THE SERPENT. It means that I fear certainty as you fear uncertainty. It means that nothing is certain but uncertainty. If I bind the future I bind my will. If I bind my will I strangle creation.
EVE. Creation must not be strangled. I tell you I will create, though I tear myself to pieces in the act.
ADAM. Be silent, both of you. I will bind the future. I will be delivered from fear. [To Eve] We have made our vows; and if you must create, you shall create within the bounds of those vows. You shall not listen to that snake any more. Come [he seizes her by the hair to drag her away].
EVE. Let me go, you fool. It has not yet told me the secret.
ADAM [releasing her] That is true. What is a fool?
EVE. I do not know: the word came to me. It is what you are when you forget and brood and are filled with fear. Let us listen to the snake.
ADAM. No: I am afraid of it. I feel as if the ground were giving way under my feet when it speaks. Do you stay and listen to it.
THE SERPENT [laughs]!!!
ADAM [brightening] That noise takes away fear. Funny. The snake and the woman are going to whisper secrets. [He chuckles and goes away slowly, laughing his first laugh].
EVE. Now the secret. The secret. [She sits on the rock and throws her arms round the serpent, who begins whispering to her].